Hamilton said two summers ago he and coach Alan Hunt had a tough time trying to convince the South African-born van Wyk from playing in a four-day Plunket Shield match in which Dane Cleaver made his debut.
"Right up to the first day of play he was trying to tell us he was fine when he had a broken wrist," he said of the Ruahine Motors Central Hawke's Bay premier club cricketer.
Indian seamer Umesh Yadav, in particular, peppered Van Wyk with short-pitched deliveries.
In one bouncer the Stags player ducked but the ball still hit him on his helmet.
He looked like a battered and bruised soldier returning from the frontline of a war with his arms strapped up in a bandage.
A few overs later he waved to 12th man BJ Watling to bring him what appeared to be some tablets for a headache before washing it down with a bottle of water to resume his dogged and gutsy innings.
While Hamilton had not had any feedback on what was exactly keeping the pint-sized terrier off the field, he was convinced it wouldn't be the ball on the head.
"He's a pretty tough rooster, old Kruger," Hamilton said
He added the West Indians had also targeted him in the Caribbean, obviously because bowlers saw him as a shorter bloke.
"I suppose that's test cricket but Kruger is a pretty resilient individual, too."
Hamilton said the CD camp wasn't too worried about his injury because the Stags would not be playing a pre-season game against the Canterbury Wizards until October 7 at Lincoln, Christchurch.
India batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara and Sachin Tendulkar built a useful partnership as India reached 147-2 at tea last night (NZ time), chasing a target of 261 to win the second test against New Zealand.
Pujara was on 41 and Indian batting maestro Tendulkar on 23 with the hosts still needing another 114 runs to win when rain brought a premature end to the second session of the day.
The two batsmen batted cautiously during the 64-run stand after openers Virender Sehwag (38) and Gautam Gambhir (34) added 77 runs in only 11.5 overs.
Earlier, New Zealand was bowled out for 248 in the morning session, scoring 16 runs in 4.2 overs after resuming at its overnight score of 232-9.
India won the first test in Hyderabad by an innings and 115 runs.
Before play started, assistant Black Caps coach Bob Carter was upbeat about an upset.
"We have got three young bowlers who are itching to get out there," he said.
"We saw what happened in the first innings with Trent Boult, Tim Southee, of course, and Doug Bracewell," the newly appointed assistant of coach Mike Hesson said.